Sunflower Bean are getting old. Just kidding, the NY band are still only 22 years old but they’ve been in this music game for a while now and their second album, Twentytwo in Blue is due 23 March on Lucky Number. Out today, the lead track Twentytwo is our playlist opener and all about fighting back against society’s expectations and generations of abuse by men in power. Hells yeah. Next up, The Breeders are back with Nervous Mary (catch them live at The Roundhouse on 30 May) and one of our favourite young artists, duendita, shares her beautiful new single i’ma get you.
We might have already briefed you on Janelle Monáe’s exciting second wave, but we definitely haven’t filled you in on Poppy Ajudha yet. Give her Kojey Radical-featuring EP, Femme, a listen; it’s out today and the highlight is the nostalgic love song, Where Did I Go?. So dreamy. If super fresh Scandi pop is your kind of thing, you’ll probably like 17-year-old Norwegian newbie HALIE’s Youth, brought to you by the same people as Sigrid and Fanny Andersen. What is this magical pop factory and can we tour it?
Also in the playlist this week is a Sampha remix of award-winning Malian singer Oumou Sangaré’s Minata Waraba, as well as banging new music from Pale Waves, Superorganism, Post Animal, Belly Squad, Bad Gyal, Sorry, RAYE, Mabel and loads more. Follow us — we’ll update the playlist each Friday especially for you.